Fire destroys Steele motel

Steele firefighter Rob Dewitz says the call came in about 8:45 Sunday morning.

"I live 5 miles east of town, and I could see the smoke already when I arrived, so it was pretty involved by that time already," said Dewitz. "You could see smoke coming out from the soffit, most of the way around the building. That tells us it's already in the attic, and it's pretty involved."

Dewitz says the motel’s owners had already made sure the motel’s 15 guests had gotten out. And he says firefighters made sure vehicles were out of the way.

"That was pretty much all that we were able to do," said Dewitz. "We didn't want to endanger anybody else."

Dewitz says the state fire marshal is now working to help determine what caused the fire. A damage estimate was not immediately available.